The Cries That Echo
by FeelxThis
Summary: They can still hear the screams bouncing off the empty walls. Those who had learned to love can no longer trust. The things that had been fixed are once again broken into tiny unrecognizable shards. Post Season 6 finale.
1. Aftermath

The blood still stained patches of Lexie's pale, creamy skin. She could see the slightly pink hue that covered her hands. It was Alex's blood. It was the blood that had been spilled because of something she had done. It should've been hers, not his. He had paid the price for the pain she had inflicted on another man.

It hadn't been intentional. She would never willingly hurt another human being. Yet, she had caused a man to become a widower. She had unplugged the machines that had been keeping his wife alive. There was another man that Lexie had hurt. She had broken Mark's Sloan's heart by sleeping with Alex. She had twisted the knife in his heart by declaring her love for Karev.

Lexie knew that Mark loved her. He had very nearly proposed to her, but she knew that it would never work. He would never be able to actually settle down and be a family man. He would never be able to understand how much more mature she was than him and the fact that he would still have to wait for her to grow up.

Alex had been married before. He knew how to make a life with someone. It hadn't been his fault that his marriage to Izzie had failed. Cancer was too much stress for the best of people. It didn't make either of them weak to sign the divorce papers.

"You're good with him." Her voice was like wind chimes. Lexie could feel the muscles in her body stiffening at the mere sound of the woman's arrival.

"I didn't expect you to show up." Lexie admitted as she smoothed a hand over Alex's hair. His eyes fluttered gently but he remained asleep. His fingers tightened around hers and she couldn't keep the soft smile from forming on her cracked lips.

"He's my husband." Izzie said simply as she crossed the room to Alex's bedside. Her eyes flickered to the machines that monitored his vitals before falling back to his face.

"Ex-husband." Lexie corrected as she squeezed Alex's hand tightly in her own. This blonde woman scared her. Isobel Stevens had the power to take this man from her and she had already faced that horror once. She couldn't bear to go through that pain again. "He's doing well. Without you, I mean. He's doing well without you."

"Alex always does just fine by himself."

"He's not alone. He has me." Lexie reminded her. The stress of the shooting was still simmering in her veins. People had _died_ for no reason that day. Reed and Charles hadn't had a fighting chance. Meredith's baby hadn't had the opportunity to even draw breath.

Lexie could feel the tears stinging her eyes as she thought of her sister's heartbreaking confession early that morning after they had checked on both their lovers. _"The morning of the shooting I found out that I was pregnant. By the end of that day, I wasn't any more."_

"Thank you for saving him." The words were hard for Izzie to say. She should've been there to protect him, to keep Alex alive. She had taken vows before their friends and God to be with him through better or worse. Yet, she had been the one to walk away. She had turned her back on all the promises that they had made and all the dreams that they'd had.

Lexie was surprised by the rage that was heating her body. She could feel her face turning red as she tried to focus solely on Alex's hand in hers. She could still hear him asking for Izzie as he had nearly bled to death. The memory still brought back the stabbing pain in her heart. "I didn't do it for you. I did it for me. I saved him for me and so that he has a chance to be the wonderful man that I know he can be." Lexie sucked in a shaky breath, finally summoning the strength to meet the blonde woman's eyes. "I didn't do it so that you could come back and break his heart again. I did it for me."

"I know that I made some mistakes, little Grey…"

"Shut up!" Lexie released her grip on Alex's hand and jumped to her feet. The chair's metal legs scraped against the tiled floors. Her entire body began to quake and the hospital around her ceased to exist. "Just shut up! You broke him. You broke him and then you left. I was the one who was here. I picked up the pieces that you left shattered on the ground. I fixed him."

"You need to calm down." Izzie took a step forward, raising her hands in front of her chest. She had never seen Lexie Grey this upset about anything before and the sight was beginning to frighten her. "Take a deep breath."

"Don't tell me what to do. You don't get to walk in here and tell any of us what to do. You have no right to be here! This is _my _life now." Lexie gestured wildly around her. The air thickening in her lungs as the rage made it harder to breathe. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the blood raced through her veins. "I love him. You left and now I love him. I never wanted this. I was perfectly happy with just the sex. It got rid of the pain that had filled me after I lost Mark. Then it wasn't enough. He changed. I wanted more. Now I love him."

"Lexie." Meredith's voice rang out through the room. It seemed to echo off the empty walls. "It's okay. Calm down." She made her way across the room, glancing quickly at Izzie before turning back to her younger sister. "Its okay, Lex."

"She can't just come back." Lexie could feel the tears cascading down her cheeks. She felt her sister's arm wrap around her waist. She fought against the hold, straining to make her point known to the blonde woman that threatened to destroy everything Lexie had come to love. Meredith was murmuring softly, trying to soothe the little sister that had come to mean the world to her.

"Izzie's not going to hurt you." Meredith assured the petite brunette carefully, sending a look of pure warning at the blonde who had once been a very close friend. "Go out in the hall. Christina is out there waiting." Lexie turned to argue, to continue the fight that she had engaged in. "Don't keep her waiting. Go see Christina."

Meredith waited until her sister was safely out of the room before facing Izzie. "She's overwhelmed right now. It was supposed to be her, but it wasn't. It was Alex. She loves him and he got shot." She checked Alex's vitals and made a note in his chart. "I know what that feels like. Derek was shot too. My love couldn't save him." She bit back the rush of emotion that still threatened to knock her onto her knees. "Be careful with my sister, Izzie. I really would hate to choose sides."

"We were friends once." Izzie smiled as she remembered all the nights that she had spent in Meredith's kitchen, baking away all of her problems.

"We're still friends, Iz. Things are just a little different now." Meredith pressed a hand to her stomach, cradling the empty hole inside of her that only two other people knew about. "You've missed a lot." She would've told Izzie. If things hadn't changed, she would've cried on the blonde's sympathetic shoulder. Now she turned to the sister that she had never wanted, the sister that she had resented the hell out of. "Please don't hurt her. Lexie, I mean. She's been through enough."

"I still love him, Mer." The words slipped through Izzie's lips before she had a chance to even think them. "What if I want him back?"

"Then we fight." Meredith admitted as she glanced through the window at her best friend and her little sister. "We fight for what we both think is best. I just really hope that there are no casualties." Silence fell on the room and the only sound was the beeping of Alex's machines. The girls stared at each other helplessly as they realized that maybe, just maybe, they weren't friends anymore after all.


	2. CopOut

"You look worried." Derek's voice was raspy from the tubes that had been shoved down his throat. His chest burned from the bullet wound that Christina had hastily operated on. The incision was healing nicely. Yet there was still a look of terror in his wife's eyes. Something was still haunting Meredith, even now that he was on the road to recovery.

"You were shot. I get to worry." Meredith countered as she fussed with the ugly blue blanket that was draped over his body. She fidgeted a lot since the shooting. "Izzie's back."

"Does Lexie know?" It was surprising to see how much things had changed in a matter of months. Meredith was protective of her younger sibling and Derek loved watching them bond over all their little similarities. Izzie's return could turn all of their lives into chaos.

"I found her yelling at Iz in Alex's room." Meredith admitted as she glanced out into the hallway. "She's not herself right now."

"Neither are you." Derek pointed out softly as he linked his finger with hers. His head was swimming with all the aftermath of the shooting. His hospital was complete pandemonium. His wife had watched him get shot. Good people had died for his mistakes. The wounds that had been inflicted that day would not heal with just time.

"You were shot." She said it as if it excused all behavior. Maybe it did. She had watched her world crash to pieces as he had bled out on the hospital floor. Now he had to prove that it would be okay to pick up the pieces. She sighed and was quiet for a moment. He wasn't surprised when she suddenly changed the subject. "Lexie loves Alex. Izzie's back for her husband and Lexie loves him."

"Does Alex love her too?"

"I don't know. He's sedated right now. I think we're all waiting to hear what he has to say." She toyed with their laced fingers. "Mark loves her though. Lexie, I mean. Mark wants a future with her. He wants to be with her forever, but she loves Alex now. You have to love the one who heals all the dark and broken things inside of you."

"Who healed you, Meredith?" It was meant as a joke. He figured that they needed something to lift the tension that had been filling them lately. Then he saw the pain flash across her overly-expressive eyes and knew that he should've bit his tongue. "Its okay, Mer."

"You did. We weren't together but you made me want to be better than what I was. I loved you when I was dark and twisty. Now I love you when I'm bright and shiny. It doesn't matter what else is inside of me, because I'm in love with you, Derek Shepard."

"I love you, too." Derek whispered, a soft smile playing on his lips as he kissed her scraped knuckles. He hadn't noticed the small wounds before. Had she fallen during the shooting? What had she gone through that day? He didn't know what kind of damage had been inflicted upon his wife. He had been so selfishly caught up in his own pain and guilt.

"I'm okay." Meredith assured him, as if she'd been reading his thoughts. Maybe she had been thinking something along the same lines. He could see the pain that seemed to be following her around and knew that it had to be something more than just seeing him get shot. He had watched her die once before. He knew what that would look like if it were to be reflected back at him.

She stared at him for a long moment, contemplating her next words. "I resented Lexie when I first met her. She got to have two loving parents when all I had was Ellis. Now she's my _sister_. Lexie is needs protecting. I'm the big sister. I have to protect her." Meredith paused and looked down at their linked hands. "Someone tried to shoot her. This complete stranger walked into _our_ hospital with a gun and tried to kill my little sister. Then the bastard shot you. He shot you, Alex and Owen. He killed Reed and Charles."

He could see the tears glistening in his wife's eyes. "People died and I nearly lost my entire family. That day was bad. I wasn't okay. Now, the funerals are over and everyone is healing. I can be okay." She would just have to be.

Christina Yang wasn't the type to comfort someone, but she had been there for Izzie when the cancer had started. She'd been the first person to fight for the blonde's life. That kind of battle tended to bond people. She studied the woman now, taking in all the effects the chemo had left on her once perfect body. "You copped out."

"I had to leave." Izzie muttered, as if she was tired of defending herself. Everyone saw her as the traitor for taking off. They just couldn't grasp the fact that her life had become hell. "George died. I could've been next. I needed to clear my head."

"You had a husband." She didn't need to remind Izzie. Christina knew that Alex was never far from the former model's mind. "Meredith asked you to stay, didn't she? You walked out on the little family she had formed in her head." Meredith was the one person to break through all of Christina's defenses. The two women understood each other in ways that other people couldn't fathom. "It was nothing but a cop out. And you know it."

Isobel contemplated the words. Of course she knew them to be true. She had been running scared from the big bad world that had been attacking her from all sides. She wasn't as strong as everyone else inside of Seattle Grace. "Lexie is braver than I could ever be." It was hard to admit it. She didn't want to admire anything about the woman who was now holding Alex's hand as he continued to fight for his life. "But I wouldn't have gotten him shot."

"It wasn't her fault." Christina snapped the words out, acid staining each syllable. "The man was crazy with grief."

"He wanted Lexie. I heard all about it, Yang. He only wanted three people and ended up killing numerous others. Two good residents are dead because of some patient that they had never met. He came in for three and only hit one of his targets." Izzie watched Alex's chest rise and fall from her position by the nurse's station. It was as close as she could get right now. Lexie never seemed to leave the man's side. "The man must've had lousy aim."

"I'm trying to be on your side, Iz, but you're making it really difficult." Christina murmured as she began to study Derek's chart. She had performed the operation that had saved his life and no one would be allowed to steal her case out from under her. She was a surgeon first and foremost.

"Sorry."

"You need to stop being so damn apologetic. It's not going to get you anywhere with anyone inside of this hospital." She slammed the chart shut and took a deep breath. Emotions had never been her strong suit. "You pissed a lot of people off when you left." Christina turned to face the blonde for the first time since their conversation had begun. "We all went to bat for you after Denny died. For God's sake, I laid on a bathroom floor with you because you just couldn't seem to get up again. We put ourselves on the line so that you could be a surgeon again and then you just walked away from it."

"I have _cancer_, Christina." Izzie's voice was filled with shock and disgust. "Do you think that I asked for any of this? I had every damn intention of spending the rest of my life with that man in there." She gestured wildly at Alex's hospital room. "Then all of a sudden I'm seeing my dead fiancée and then I'm the patient. I'm supposed to be a _doctor_ and now I'm the patient. I get to walk away."

"You don't ever get to walk away, Izzie." Christina shook her head sadly as she watched Lexie press a kiss to Alex's pale forehead. "Life isn't supposed to be easy and we all have problems. But we stay. We fight to survive." She placed the chart back into the rack that rested on the blue countertop. "You might want to think that she got him shot, Iz, but at least she stuck around."

-** Thank you for the reviews and the support. I hope you all continue to read this story and let me know what you think.**-


	3. Awakening

~~~Thank you so much for all of the wonderful reviews. I'm so glad you guys are so into this story. I'm sorry for the wait. Enjoy!~~~

Alex Karev was a coward. He spent three hours pretending to be asleep so that he could avoid a confrontation with his girlfriend and his wife. He had recognized Izzie's voice immediately. Lexie was still clutching his hand in hers, but her grip had tightened when the door had creaked open. He'd heard the shuffling as someone crossed the room. Then he heard her asking about him, as if she still cared. She acted like she had a right to be there, to order everyone around. _She's your wife,_ he reminded himself. He had taken vows before God to cherish Isobel Stevens until death parted them. _And then she left you,_ his conscience screamed. He had done nothing wrong. He hadn't been the one to give up, to walk away. _You slept with Lexie. _The guilt made his stomach churn. He wanted to tangle his fingers with hers and hold her tightly against his chest. She didn't deserve to have her heart trampled on again, not after what Mark Sloan had done to her.

_Lexie was supposed to be just sex. _When had he let himself start to care? He knew exactly when it had happened. It was when he had woken up next to her in bed and realized that his chest no longer ached as if a hole had been punched through him. She made the world a little more bearable for him. _So what do you do now? _Alex couldn't answer that particular question, even though it continued to echo through his brain. He just kept his eyes closed and his breathing even. He let them think that he was asleep so that he wouldn't have to answer the questions that lurked around them all. Izzie left quickly and hadn't returned. Lexie never moved. She barely even fidgeted. Had she been by his side since the shooting? He couldn't feel the bullet wound that he knew should be there. He could hear the machines beeping softly beside him. Everything else was peaceful. He would think himself dead if it wasn't for the soft, steady pressure of Lexie's hand wrapped around his own.

"Alex?" Lexie's voice was barely audible. He almost let his breathing stall. Had she caught him? Then he felt the warm moisture of her tears against the back of his hand as she buried her face into skin. "Please, wake up. I don't know what will happen when you do, but I'd rather risk it all than have you drift away forever. So you need to just wake up." She sucked in a shaky breath. "I know you love, Izzie. It's okay." Her grip on his hand began to loosen as her fingers began to shake. "I love you."

A groan escaped his lips as she pressed her body against his side, setting off a wildfire of pain across his abdomen. "Lex." His throat closed around her name. He hadn't realized how dry is mouth was. Suddenly a cup appeared in front of him and she was pressing a straw against his lips. The cool water soothed his throat rapidly. "Lexie."

"You're awake." She pressed a series of kisses across his face, her hand still clutching his. "Thank God. You're going to be okay." Lexie's warmth seemed to surround him as she practically crawled onto the bed with him. Her smile lit up the entire room and he had to blink a few times before he could fully take in the sight of her.

"You're beautiful." He murmured, reaching up with his free hand to touch her pale cheek. Had she been sleeping at all since the shooting? He could feel worry pricking his mind as he took in all the signs of her distress. "You stayed."

"I couldn't have left you." Lexie swore as she brushed his lips with her own. "I was so afraid that you were going to die. You can't ever do that to me again, Alex Karev. I can't do that. I can't be the one trying to save your life." Fresh tears scalded her face as they began to spill from her weary eyes. "Don't do that to me again. Please, don't."

"I couldn't leave you." Alex repeated back to her, his voice still cracking from his lack of hydration and activity. He squeezed her hand in his, tugging her closer to his frail body. "No one else could ever save me, Lexie. You've already done that."

"You need to rest." She muttered as she pulled away from him. She could see Izzie talking impatiently with the nurses. All she could hear in her mind was Alex begging Izzie not to leave him after he had been shot. The hallucination had been real to him and excruciating for Lexie. She had blocked it all from her mind while he had still been unconscious, but now he was awake and they knew he would live. Everything in her world shifted with the realization that she could finally stop fighting. The world was no longer trying to take Alex away from her. The shooting was over and they would soon be returning to Seattle Grace. Her knees shook as she got to her feet. The room seemed to spin around her as the energy just washed out of her tiny body.

"Lexie?" Alex reached again for her hand, but she moved just out of his reach. Frustration made him nervous as her face became void of any color. He struggled to make his body respond so that he could get to his feet and grab her, but the pain made him remain still. He jabbed the nurse's button furiously as she swayed at the end of his bed. "Lexie, focus. Look at me, Lex." Izzie and two nurses ran into the room, instantly appearing at his side. He saw the tears fill Iz's pale blue eyes. "Izzie, get her. Get Lexie."

"Dr. Grey?" The taller nurse heeded his warning and stepped towards the young, blonde intern. "Dr. Grey, are you alright?" Lexie blinked once, but showed no other response. Her hand gripped the bed rail as she swayed again. Alex growled with frustration, sending Izzie a pleading look. He watched Iz snap into surgeon mode as she pushed the nurses out of her way.

"Lexie, can you hear me?" Izzie snapped her fingers a few times. "She's not responding. I think she's gone into shock. Someone page an attending!" The nurses flew into motion and Alex could only watch as everyone worked around him. A gurney was rolled into the room and Izzie slowly helped a despondent Lexie onto the bed. "It's okay. Just lay back and breathe."

Mark Sloan and Miranda Bailey followed two more nurses into the room, barking orders and asking questions. The stretcher was wheeled out of the room, leaving only one nurse and Bailey to check on Alex. "You always seem to create the most chaos, Karev."

"I missed you too, Bailey." He smirked at her, his smile quickly becoming a wince of pain. "Your morphine sucks." He shifted slightly to try and alleviate the burning in his side. He gave up quickly when the movement only made it worse. "Do you think you can give me something a bit stronger? I was shot, you know."

"Yes, Karev, I am aware of what led to you being in this current state of disarray. Nurse, order another five of morphine for our favorite little patient." Bailey sighed, reaching out to lay her hand on his shoulder. "You had us worried. I don't like being worried, Dr. Karev. Next time keep your chivalrous ideas to yourself and stay _away_ from the men with guns."

"I'll see what I can do." Alex chuckled, groaning when the sensation made his vision become hazy. "Can you do something for me?" He called as Bailey moved to leave the room. She stalled, turning to meet his beseeching eyes. "Take care of Lexie. I don't think she's been worrying about herself at all while I've been out… She needs someone to take care of her."

"I don't believe that will be a problem."

Alex nodded once, sinking back into the pillows as his morphine began to kick in. It probably wouldn't be a problem. He had seen Sloan rush to the blonde's side, his hand automatically wrapping around hers as he screamed at anybody around. No, Lexie would be cared for. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the world around him. Maybe that was what he was so worried about. He knew that Lexie would be watched carefully. It was just _who_ it was that was going to be caring for her that annoyed Alex.

xOxOxOx

"She's fine, Dr. Sloan. It's just a delayed reaction to all of the stress that she's been under. I've given her something to keep her calm, but she's awake and alert. Let's keep her this way." The psych attending suggested as he closed Lexie's file and turned to leave the room. Mark sighed with relief, waving Isobel Stevens away from him. She had no reason to stay now that she could assure Alex that Lexie would be fine. He didn't need an audience for his rejection.

He slipped silently into her room and stood just an inch from her bed. She was turned away from him, staring out the window as the rain washed over the entire city. His hands ached to touch her, to reassure himself. He had never witnessed anything as terrifying as Lexie shutting herself down. She was always a welcoming, vibrant person. He never wanted to see that empty look in her eyes again. "Hey." He brushed his knuckles across her bare arm. "How are you feeling?"

She didn't answer for a few moments and he refused to push. She needed tranquil and safe so he was determined to give it to her. She licked her lips before speaking. "I feel ridiculous." She admitted softly, still not turning to look at him. He took it as a good sign though that she hadn't pulled away from his touch yet. "I'm a surgeon. I shouldn't have lost it like that." She groaned and placed one hand over her face. "I'm so stupid."

"You are not." Mark argued as he gently pried her hand away so that he could look down at her face. "You've been trying to do it all, Lexie. You're so worried about everyone else, but who's been looking after you?" He sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb her too much. She twisted ever so slightly so that she could meet his searching gaze. "Have you been eating or resting? Every time I've seen you since the shooting, you've been glued to Karev's side. You just need some downtime."

"I didn't deserve _downtime_." She murmured, casting her eyes away from his again. He had seen the guilt weighing on her shoulders. He just hadn't realized that it was about to crush her.

"You didn't get those people shot." Mark reminded her softly. "Reed, Derek, Alex… It's not your fault."

"I unplugged his wife."

"You did your job and a patient died. It happens and you can't change that. You did everything you could for that woman." Mark gripped her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "You did not buy a gun or pull that trigger. Their deaths are not on your head."

"No, you're right." Lexie agreed as she let her eyes flutter shut. She didn't have the will to argue anymore, nor did she want Mark to leave her side. She was afraid to be alone, to close her eyes and let the dreams come. She couldn't relive that day, not if she had any intention of surviving what had happened. She laced her fingers with his, sighing as she ignored the pain in her chest that each one his touches would cause. "You're right." She whispered again as sleep began to take her. "Their deaths are not on my head, but Alex's blood is still on my hands."


	4. Sick

Four months had passed since the shooting. Seattle Grace had been reopened for business and they were all slowly getting into the rhythm of being at work. Richard had replaced Derek as chief of staff and things seemed to be falling back into place. Except for Lexie Grey who had spent the last few months in the psych ward upstairs. Her paranoia had become overwhelming and the shooting had shattered her frail sanity.

"_Lexie?" Mark pushed the door open to her apartment slowly. He'd left her alone for twenty minutes to go get food, hoping that Karev would've returned from physical therapy during his absence. They might still hold a lot of hostility towards each other, but the two men had learned to work in silence to protect the one girl that they both loved. _

"_There's too much blood!" Her blood curdling scream echoed from the bedroom, followed by a series of things hitting the walls. The food he'd just bought fell to the floor as he sprinted to the other side of the apartment. "Make the blood go away."_

"_Lex, I can't. There's no blood there." Alex murmured as he stepped closer to his live-in girlfriend. He held his arms out to her, praying that she would just come to him like she had before. "See? I'm not bleeding. I'm okay."_

"_You can't! You can never make it go away.' Lexie backed away from him, whimpering when her back hit the wall. She reached blindly for the alarm clock that sat beside the bed, flinging it in Alex's general direction. It was closely followed by a vase of white roses, red were no longer acceptable. "Don't die. Please don't die." She kept repeating her pleading mantra as she curled up into a ball in the corner, mashing herself between the wall and the dresser. Alex reached out to touch her and she screamed again. The sound made Mark's stomach churn as he flung the bedroom door open._

"_Get out." Mark growled as he threw a disgusted look in Alex's direction. "You're making her worse. You always just make this worse." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and one beneath her knees, lifting her off the floor. Her tears burned into his shoulder as he moved her towards the bed. "It's alright, Alexandra. Everyone's fine and I've taken away all the blood."_

"_Help Alex. He's bleeding, Mark, so you have to help him." Lexie fisted a hand in his shirt so that she could pull his face closer to hers. "Save him, please. I can't be the reason he dies."_

"_I've saved him, Lex." He pressed a kiss to her hair as he pulled himself from her embrace. "I saved him for you." Mark waited into her eyes had fluttered shut before going out to confront Alex Karev. "You should know better than to try reasoning with her. She's beyond rational thought at that point."_

"_Don't come into my home and try telling me how to take care of her."_

"_Then do it right!" Mark screamed, pounding his fist into the wall beside Alex's head. "If anything happens to her, I will hold you personally responsible, Karev."_

It was later that day that Alex had placed her into the psych ward against her will, with the help of Meredith and Cristina. Now she was no longer Alexandra Grey, surgical resident. She was Lexie Grey, the girl who went crazy after the Seattle Grace Mass Murder. That's what the headlines were calling that day. It had it's own title and people still wanted the insider's details. Lexie couldn't stand the photographers and reporters that seemed permanently posed outside the glass doors. They wanted a news story and she just wanted her life back. They had lost nothing that day while the doctors of Seattle Grace had damn near lost everything. She wanted to be more than a headline, more than just the girl who'd lost her mind, but society demanded to know what had happened and everyone needed to be labeled.

"Alexandra."

He used her first name a lot since the shooting. Sometimes it had been the only way for him to get through to her, even during his visits upstairs. He had been the only constant in her life other than Meredith. He listened to her when she'd told him that the medications were too much, when she couldn't stand to sleep anymore. He'd held her while she'd cried out all of her guilt and shame. Where had Alex been? Karev had only visited sporadically throughout her stay and she'd known that something was wrong. She'd been crazy, not stupid.

"How are you feeling?" Mark reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was a touch that took no thought for either of them. "You look well."

"That's what you said yesterday." Lexie reminded him with a soft smile. It felt good to smile and for it not to feel like a betrayal to those who had been shot. "You've come to pick me up."

Mark nodded, looping an arm around her shoulders as he lifted her suitcase off the floor. "I'm going to take you home."

"Where is that now?"

Mark stopped and set the bag back down as he turned to face her, placing both his hands upon her frail shoulders. "With me, Alexandra. We both know that."

She sighed, her gaze falling to the floor. "Alex took her back, didn't he?"

Mark could only nod once before the pain in her eyes would stab him in the heart. "They moved to California. Izzie got a job down there." His hand came up to caress her face. "We all thought that it was best."

"And I'm not to be left alone for another few weeks." Lexie licked her lips before sinking her top teeth into the lush flesh. She knew that she would have to be watched. She'd also known that Alex wouldn't be the one to comfort and heal her. She had saved his life and now he had his wife back. Lexie would probably be nothing more than an afterthought whenever the scar began to ache. "Meredith can't do it?"

"I won't hurt you, Lexie." Mark promised, hurt flashing through his eyes as he finally met her gaze once again."

"It's not me that I'm worried about." She admitted softly as she covered his hand with her own, leaning into his touch. "We were beautiful once and I'm not anymore. I could hurt you in so many ways now, Mark. Worse than I did before." She pulled his hand from her skin, dropping it to his side before wrapping her arms around her ridiculously thin frame. "You've done enough for me."

"It's never going to be _enough_." The words were a growl from his lips as he yanked her hand back into his.

"My sister…"

"Has a husband that was just shot. She's got plenty on her plate for one person." Mark decided as he picked up the suitcase once again, dragging Lexie behind him. "Just stop arguing, Alexandra, and we'll get along just fine this time around."


End file.
